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zombiidactal 's review for:
The Rivaled Crown
by Holly Renee
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Oh, siiiigh. Do Verena and Dacre even really like one another or is it just the plot of a romantasy trilogy that keeps them together? They might have sexual chemistry and he's certainly grown as a character into a much better man but I'm not sure what history they're drawing on to inspire confessions of love for one another even after the events at the end of the book.
Was the whole mate subplot even needed outside of being able to market it as a trope for the series? It was such a rare thing that most people believed the concept to belong in fairy tales, having forgotten tradition and ceremony, and no one even reacted to the claims in the story in any positive way. But still we get the constant droning of Dacre, 'my mate, my mate, my mate.' It really takes away the power of something as simple as 'my wife' - which is just another trope we've decided to shoulder.
The Veiled Kingdom series has always had magic in it but it felt that magic and power was more of a theme in The Rivaled Crown. It feels really tacked-on, like books one and two were dawdling, and suddenly we're at the end and so much needs to happen and to be explained. There was a lot of action and movement but maybe it was just a bit too little too late to win me over. I was left feeling unsatisfied and, regretfully, a little angry that I bought the book during the author's restock to complete my matching set - since I've vowed to only purchase books I loved. I'd really hoped book three would have made up for the short book two but it didn't.
Was the whole mate subplot even needed outside of being able to market it as a trope for the series? It was such a rare thing that most people believed the concept to belong in fairy tales, having forgotten tradition and ceremony, and no one even reacted to the claims in the story in any positive way. But still we get the constant droning of Dacre, 'my mate, my mate, my mate.' It really takes away the power of something as simple as 'my wife' - which is just another trope we've decided to shoulder.
The Veiled Kingdom series has always had magic in it but it felt that magic and power was more of a theme in The Rivaled Crown. It feels really tacked-on, like books one and two were dawdling, and suddenly we're at the end and so much needs to happen and to be explained. There was a lot of action and movement but maybe it was just a bit too little too late to win me over. I was left feeling unsatisfied and, regretfully, a little angry that I bought the book during the author's restock to complete my matching set - since I've vowed to only purchase books I loved. I'd really hoped book three would have made up for the short book two but it didn't.